EA's first-person shooter Crysis 2, released earlier this year, has been removed from digital distribution service Steam and now sports an 'Only on Origin' tag on the EA site.

However, despite the 'Only on Origin' tag, Crysis 2 is still available on Direct2Drive and Impulse, and has only been removed from Steam.

Released earlier this week, Alice: Madness Returns also states that it is available only on Origin, EA's new digital distribution service, although the official page on the EA site says that it is only available on Origin until June 17, indicating that the game will appear on other sites later this week.

Origin is a desktop application through which users can create an account and access their game library via an internet connection, much like Valve's dominant Steam platform.

EA launched the service earlier this month, with more than 150 titles offered from launch day. The company noted that it will be adding many more titles in the coming months, including exclusive limited edition copies of upcoming EA titles.

It also confirmed that the digital download version of Star Wars: The Old Republic will be exclusively available via Origin.

[Update: EA has issued a response to the game's removal, saying that it was "not an EA decision or the result of any action by EA," saying instead that the game was removed because an agreement that developer Crytek made with "another download service" violates an unspecified rule Steam has for its distribution partners.

Valve has not responded to requests by Gamasutra for clarification. An EA spokesperson provided this statement to Gamasutra:

"It’s unfortunate that Steam has removed Crysis II from their service. This was not an EA decision or the result of any action by EA.

Steam has imposed a set of business terms for developers hoping to sell content on that service – many of which are not imposed by other online game services. Unfortunately, Crytek has an agreement with another download service which violates the new rules from Steam and resulted in its expulsion of Crysis II from Steam.

Crysis II continues to be available on several other download services including Amazon, GameStop and Origin.com."]